OMW once again becomes Grand Central Station, Media Hub…
3001 EUCLID, INCOMING: Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 “NewsChannel 5” has two incoming newsies, and one is a familiar local TV name from the past.
The station has already announced the arrival of Macie McInnis Jepson as one of two new “Good Morning Cleveland” co-anchors, the other to be named later.
And yes, she is a name you’d recognize if you watched local TV news in the 1990s, says the station’s announcement:
Northeast Ohioans will recognize Macie from her years at WJW Fox 8, where she was employed from 1994 through 1999. At various times during those years, she anchored the morning, noon and 5 p.m. newscasts.
Though she most recently worked at WFAA in Dallas – yes, the same place WEWS found incoming 11 PM anchor Chris Flanagan – local ties and familiarity mean a lot in the Cleveland market.
WEWS news director Jill Manuel on the hire:
“Announcing Macie as one of our morning news anchors is another step in strengthening this very important news daypart,” explained NewsChannel5 News Director Jill Manuel. “Many viewers already know Macie, and her knowledge of the people, places, and things that matter to Northeast Ohioans will be advantageous to everyone who engages with NewsChannel5 in the morning on-air, online and through our social media platforms.”
Macie will arrive November 28th, the station says…
3001 EUCLID, SECOND INCOMING: There’s been a second hire for “Good Morning Cleveland”, but not a co-anchor, yet.
OMW hears that Josh Boose joins WEWS as the MMJ for the morning show – yes, they called them reporters back in the day. He’s been a reporter/anchor for Gannett NBC affiliate WGRZ/2 in Buffalo.
But it’s actually a return to Northern Ohio for Boose, who is a native of Milan…and to the building, as he was an intern for the long-running WEWS staple “The Morning Exchange”.
Boose’s career stops include independent WMFD/68 Mansfield, WFSM in Fort Smith AR, WSJV in South Bend IN, and a stint as an associate producer at…Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 across town.
He’ll start December 1st…and we apologize for the earlier typo in his name…
3001 EUCLID, INCOMING AND OUTGOING: With new traffic and transportation reporter Alicia Roberts in the building at NewsChannel 5, yes, the person who had the position before has left the building.
Patty Harken’s last day on Euclid Avenue was Friday.
Harken has extensive traffic reporting experience, including a long stint with Cleveland’s Metro Networks cluster before going to WEWS…
NO, NOT FOX 8, YET: You may have noticed the barrage of ads warning DirecTV users that they’re about to lose a whole bunch of Fox-owned networks, including regional sports networks like Fox Sports Ohio.
Yep, it’s yet another of those carriage disputes, where the viewers could get held hostage…if there’s no resolution, of course, before the December 1st deadline.
If there’s no deal, yes, FSOhio would be gone with a number of other Fox-owned networks, though the dispute does not involve – for example – Fox News Channel. FNC is involved in a separate deal.
And no, you won’t lose Local TV LLC’s WJW/8 “Fox 8” on DirecTV without a new agreement, at least not yet.
Though we learned last time that the Fox network does indeed negotiate carriage deals for its former O&O here, the broadcast channels don’t appear to be tied into this dispute.
AdWeek has an excellent article on the latest carriage battle, and explains:
Though this particular agreement covers carriage arrangements for the Fox cable networks, carriage agreements between the two are also due up by the end of the year for Fox’s 27 TV stations.
That’d explain why Fox’s website on the battle, KeepMyNets.com, says some local Fox stations could go away “soon”:
You’ll notice that WJW isn’t on the list, but there was that same confusion in the Fox/Time Warner Cable carriage battle. WJW is also not listed if you put a Northeast Ohio Zip Code into the Fox site, but Fox Sports Ohio is definitely affected.
The website for the DirecTV side of this little spat is OurPromiseToYou.com…
THREE DEEP: Good Karma sports WKNR/850 “ESPN 850” has unveiled its replacement for the evening program “Xs and Os With the Pros”, which lost one of its pros when football star LeCharles Bentley left the show in a behind-the-scenes dispute.
The other pro is still in place, and the show’s now called “3 Deep”, with Je’rod Cherry, WKNR utility staffer Will Burge and Emmett Golden as hosts.
Yes, the same Emmett Golden who was reportedly being removed from the original show due to money issues.
The versatile Dave DeNatale will handle SportsCenter updates on “3 Deep”, and moves into the producer/anchor/sidekick role for the late evening show “Cleveland SportsNight with Reghi and Roda”, with former afternoon drivers Michael Reghi and Kenny Roda. (By the way, the show that replaced “Afternoon R&R” has no overall name – the station is just calling it “Hooley, Brinda and Fedor” for new afternoon drive hosts Bruce Hooley, Greg Brinda and Chris Fedor.)
We heard an abbreviated “3 Deep” on Monday, and it won’t air the rest of the week, due to pre-emptions like ESPN Radio’s coverage of the World Series, “Buckeye Roundtable” and the station’s own “High School Hysteria”…
AND FOR NOW…: We have more stuff, but we’re ending for now since this item is so long. Expect another brief update sometime soon…
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